The present invention relates to a vehicle seat which can be selectively used as a child""s seat when needed.
When a child rides in a vehicle, a so-called child""s seat, which is a separate seat for a child, is used because seat belts equipped in a vehicle seat which does not suit a height and size of a child cannot be readily used. A child""s seat is typically mounted on a front passenger seat or a rear seat of the vehicle and fixed with seat belts equipped in the vehicle seat. When an adult rides in a vehicle, a mounted child""s seat unnecessarily occupies space. Thus, the child""s seat has to be attached and detached depending on the necessity, which leads to troublesome work. Furthermore, a child""s seat which is not in use should be stored in the trunk of a vehicle or in a house, thereby requiring extra work for taking the child seat in and out of the trunk of the vehicle or the house as well as a space for storage.
In order to avoid the above problems, vehicle seats wherein members for constructing a child""s seat are previously housed in a front passenger seat or a rear seat have been developed and are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. H4-260839, H6-135271 and H6-286510, for example. The front passenger seat or the rear seat can be modified to a child""s seat by assembling the members of the child""s seat when needed.
With use of the child""s seat facing a seat back as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H4-260839, a child sits facing backward. It is a problem that this results in a poor restraining effect of the head and abdomen of the child in the event of a collision involving the vehicle from the rear, i.e., a rear impact collision.
In the vehicle seats equipped-with child""s seats as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. H6-135271 and H6-286510, the members for constructing a child""s seat are housed in a seat back portion of the vehicle seat. When the members are removed and configured as a child""s seat, the thickness of the seat back is insufficient to secure the necessary cushioning and restraining effects. Moreover, when a child is sitting on the seat, since the sitting position is higher than the original seat, the seat is typically shaken when driving, which may cause a child to fall out from the seat in the event of a collision involving the vehicle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a safer vehicle seat which is easily modified from a normal seat to a child""s seat and restored from the child""s seat to the normal seat, and has excellent cushioning and restraining effects and a high degree of safety.
A vehicle seat according to the present invention generally comprises a sitting portion, an abdominal protecting pad which can be housed in the sitting portion and erected from the sitting portion, side supporting members which can be housed in a seat back portion and projected from the seat back portion, and seat belts which can be attached to and detached from the abdominal protecting pad and the seat back portion after being removed from the seat back portion or the side supporting members in which the seat belts are stored.
In a vehicle seat in accordance with the invention, a normal seat, i.e., a seat adapted to accommodate an adult or other normally seated passenger, can be easily modified to a child""s seat by erecting the abdominal protecting pad, projecting the side supporting members from the seat back portion, removing the seat belts from the seat back portion or the side supporting members, and attaching the seat belts to the abdominal protecting pad and the seat back portion. The child""s seat can be easily restored to the normal seat by performing the above steps in reverse order. When used as a child""s seat, a child sits in an original sitting position with his or her buttocks and back against the sitting portion and the seat back portion which are the same as those of the normal seat, and the child""s body is supported by the abdominal protecting pad, the side supporting members and the seat belts. Thus, the seat has excellent cushioning and restraining effects and a high degree of safety.
The position of either seat belts or side supporting members, or both, may be adjustable in the vertical direction so that the seat belts and side supporting members can be securely fixed depending on the size of a child who is sitting on the sitting portion, thereby further enhancing a restraining effect and safety.
The seat belts may consist of shoulder belts for holding the shoulders of a child on the sitting portion and waist belts for holding the waist of the child. By providing a two-part seat belt, the shoulders and waist of the child can be separately supported, and thus even a younger child having a small and supple body can be securely restrained.
The abdominal protecting pad may have a form which can be inserted into a substantially T-shaped concave portion or recess formed on the sitting portion and be mounted on the sitting portion about an axis which enables the abdominal protecting pad to pivot about the axis and rise from the sitting portion. As such, the abdominal protecting pad can be erected and housed in an easy manner, and there is no undesirable unevenness in the sitting portion when the abdominal protecting pad is housed, with the absence of such unevenness being effective to provide cushioning and holding effects inherent to the seat.
Furthermore, the side supporting members may have a form which can be inserted into concave portions formed on the both sides of the seat back portion and be mounted on the seat back portion about axes which enable the side supporting members to pivot about the respective axis and rise or project from the seat back portion. Thus, the side supporting members can be erected and housed in an easy manner, and there is no undesirable.unevenness in the seat back portion when the side supporting members are housed, with the absence of such unevenness being effective to provide cushioning and holding effects inherent to the seat.